Batman v Superman is already a behemoth of a film, clocking in at a whopping 151 minutes, but apparently the R-rated version will be even more epic (in length, it remains to be seen whether it's epic in quality). The R-rated version, which will be available on the Blu-ray, will be half an hour longer than the theatrical version.

While speaking to THR, Zack and Deborah Snyder discussed why the R-rated version is not a reaction to Deadpool's success, and revealed that it will pass the three-hour mark in the process:

Deb: Online, everyone's like, "Oh, they're doing an R-rated in reaction to Deadpool," and you're like (laughing), "We didn't just shoot it last week, and we also didn't edit it last week."Zack: [The DVD version] is a half-hour longer, and some of that additional material is some of the stuff we took out for the rating. I was like, "Cool, I can put it back in for the director's cut." There was nothing by design. This was the material I just put back in, and then when [the MPAA] looked at it again, they were like, "Oh, now the movie's rated R." And, by the way, it's not a hard R. There's no nudity. There's a little bit of violence. It just tips the scale.

The fact that the R-rating is the result of violence rather than nudity makes me more excited to see it, both because Batman's fighting style has been the best part of the trailers so far, and because it might indicate a more respectful re-telling of The Killing Joke. Many fans have speculated that Jena Malone's Barbara Gordon was cut from the film because Batman v Superman originally included flashback scenes a la Alan Moore's controversial Batman story The Killing Joke, in which the Joker sexually assaults and paralyzes Batgirl. Hopefully this means that they were always planning to cut the sexual humiliation aspect, or at least deal with this plotline in a more respectful manner.